Transcripts For CNNW State Of The Union With Jake Tapper 20180107

President trump reiterates his campaign promise. Mexico will pay for the wall. But if mexico is paying, why did the white house just ask congress for 18 billion to pay for it . Hello, im jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is, quote, like really smart. President trump is declaring himself, quote, a very stable genius this weekend after the release of an explosive new book claiming those around the president questioned his fitness for the job, seeing him as erratic and childlike. Speaking to reporters at camp david where he was meeting with republican congressional leaders this weekend, President Trump lashed out at critics and offered a fullscale defense of his own credentials. I went to the best colleges or college. I went to a i had a situation where i was a very excellent student. Came out and made billions and billions of dollars. Became one of the top business people. Went to television, and for ten years was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard. Ran for president one time and won. The tellall has also ignited a very public battle between the president and his former chief strategist steve bannon. After bannon was quoted in the book criticizing the president and his family in rather scathing terms, President Trump responded by saying when bannon was fired, he not only lost his job but lost his mind. Joining us now is the white house Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller. Stephen, thanks so much for joining us and many new year. Thanks. Good to be here. President trump and the white house have been call the russia investigation a witchhunt and a nothing burger, but obviously in this new Michael Wolff book, fire and fury, bannon offered a different take on the trump tower meeting between donald trump jr. , paul manafort, Jared Kushner and other officials regarding this russian lawyer, he called it treasonous and unpatriotic and said that, quote, the chance that don jr. Did not walk them up to his office in his Fathers Office on the 26th floor is zero. Did President Trump meet with any of the called Steve Bannons eloquence in that derision not withstanding, its tragic and unfortunate that steam would make these grotesque comments so out of touch with reality and obviously so vindictive and the whole white house staff is deeply disappointed in his comments, which were grotesque. And with respect to the trump tower meeting that hes talking about, he wasnt even there when any of this went down. So hes not a remotely credible source on any of it. It reads like an angry, vindictive person spouting off to a highly discredible author. The book is best understood as a work of very poorly written fiction. And i also will say that the author is a garbage author of a garbage book. And the tragic thing about this book, and there are many things about it that are unfortunate, but the portrayal of the president in the book is so contrary to reality, to the experience of those who work with him, to my own experience having spent the last two years with him, you know, on the campaign i had the chance to travel all across the country with the president on trump force one. It would be the president , me, dan scavino, hope hicks, a few other people going from rally to rally to rally to rally and i saw a man who was a political genius. We would be going down, landing, there would be a breaking News Development and in 20 minutes he would dictate ten paragraphs of new material to address that event and then deliver flawlessly in front of an audience of 10,000 people. You were in the campaign during that trump tower meeting, i believe . Just to answer the question because you were there and steve bannon was not, did any of those people from that meeting meet with President Trump, as bannon says the chance that he didnt don jr. Didnt walk these jumos is zero. Did President Trump meet any of those people . I have no knowledge of anything to do with that meeting. Okay. But what i can tell you unequivocally is that the allegations and insinuations in this book, which are a pure work of fiction, are nothing but a pile of trash through and through. Well just to finish, jake. Your networks been going 24 7 with all the salacious coverage and i know it brings a lot of you guys a lot of joy to try to stick the knife in, but the reality is that page after page after page of the book is pure false. I see sections of the book where events i participated in are described and i have firsthand knowledge as theyre described theyre completely and utterly fraudulent. Nobody at cnn is sticking knives in anybody. There are a lot of people in the white house quoted in the book. I dont know why the quote youre referring to is a quote from steve bannon. Right. Who was the president s senior strategist. I think the president s statement on steve settles once and for all the view about all of that. Lets talk about that i want to talk about that lets dig into your comment about he was also the president s chief strategist. One of the other tragedies of this grotesque work of fiction is its portrayal of the president. The reality is that the president is a political genius who won against a field of 17 incredibly talented people, who took down the bush dynasty, who took down the clinton dynasty, who took down the entire media complex with its 90 negative controversial, took down billions of dollars in special interests donations and he did it all through the people and through his strategy and his vision so lets talk about this and his insight and experience. The president is now calling bannon, quote, sloppy steve and he released a statement saying in part, quote, steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. You worked hand in glove with bannon at the white house and on the campaign. Is the president really arguing that steve bannon had nothing to do with him or his presidency . Because thats i can only tell you i can only tell you my experience, which is that i joined the campaign in january of 16 before the first ballot was cast in the iowa caucus. Bannon helped you get that job. No . Corey lewandowski is the one who offered me the job in the Trump Campaign. But just to finish bannon wasnt helping you . Bannon didnt help you get that job on the campaign . I think the person who probably help me most get the job on the campaign was probably corey, but the most important thing because id been working with corey before i joined to try to help out with the campaign. But the most important thing to say about this is that the president s first speech that he gave, unfiltered, unscripted, that was donald trump. Right. Thats the same donald trump who for 30 years talked about how america is getting ripped off on trade, military deals and everything else. Its the same trump who tapped into the pulse of millions and millions of americans right but there is no presidency that is one person. A phenomenon that was happening that you didnt see, a phenomenon was happening that the rest of the Political Class didnt see. All of these socalled political geniuses in washington, whether it be at the big lobbying firms or the only person who has called themselves a genius in the last week is a president. Which happens to be a true statement. A selfmade billionaire who revolutionized im sure hes watching and hes happy you said that. You can be condescending. Im not being condescending im trying to get to the point that was a snide remark. Why is that snide . Look, you can be as conned sending as you want, its part of your m. O. , but, listen, you can have 24 7. I have no idea why youre attacking me steve bannon ill tell you why im attacking you helped enforce the president s travel ban im so glad you brought that up. Stephen i would happen to know better than you how the travel ban was written. If you would let me if you would let me ask this question you get 24 hours of negative antitrump hysterical coverage on this network. Okay. That led in recent weeks to spectacularly embarrassing false reporting i think the viewers can ascertain who is being hysterical. Why dont you give me three minutes to tell you the truth about donald trump that i know. Because its my show and i dont want to do that. Here is my question this isnt a courtroom. I have a right to speak. Stephen, settle down. Calm down. I have a question to you about issues. Stephen bannon who the president says had nothing to do with this presidency, was part of the travel ban, part of pulling out of the paris climate deal, part of tpp, part of Border Security do you want me to go through the list . No, you dont want you to go through, but is it really the position of the Trump White House that steve bannon had nothing to do with the presidency or can youage knowledge the reality that he was a key player . I think the point is that his role has been greatly exaggerated. Whereas the president hasnt gotten the due he deserves for the movement he put together to tap into the kinds of people whose life concerns dont get a lot of attention on cnn. Not a lot of hours of coverage on this tv talking about the working class construction workers who have lost their jobs to foreign labor. There is not a lot of coverage on this tv about the people getting slaughtered in sanctuary city. You dont do a lot of Human Interest stories about immigrant communities under siege from the ms13. He tapped into a reality that is happening in this country that is not covered on this network. I know you think im interrupting you, but i think the American People deserve to have two or three minutes of the truth. We let you talk no, heres the truth, i travel with donald trump all across the country and the world. I would be with the president on a Campaign Plane with a rally in 20 minutes and he would be able youve already made this point, stephen to come up with material in the blink of an eye. We let you say that at the top. According to the New York Times special Counsel Robert Mueller has in his possession an early draft of a letter that you helped write in may 2017, detailing reasons to fire fbi director james comey. According to the newspaper, the first line of the letter mentions the russia investigation. Did you write a letter outlining reasons to fire comey and list the russia investigation . Is that true . Heres the problem with what youre saying, final draft of the letter im not talking about that one, im talking about the one that comey has that mentions russia. If you want to have an answer to your question and not to get hysterical then ill answer that. The final draft of the letter has the same line about the fact that there is a trumprussia investigation this has nothing to do with. Just moved from the top to the bottom . No, look at the letter. Its at the beginning. The investigation is referenced in the beginning of the final letter that was released to point out about the fact that not withstanding having been informed that there is no investigation that the move that is happening is completely unrelated to that. Can i ask you it was a disclaimer. It appeared in the final version of the letter that was made public. I want to ask you because you obviously are very offended by this notion that this book, fire and fury, paints President Trump as not mentally up to the job. On saturday, President Trump put out a series of tweets trying to defend himself on this issue of fitness and he said, quote, actually throughout my life my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton played these cards very hard and went down in flames. I went from very successful businessman to top tv star to president of the United States on my first try. I think that would qualify as not smart but genius, and a very stable genius at that. Do you think tweets like that help or hurt the cause that the president is stable and up for the job . Not only do i think they help it, but in the toxic environment youve create here at cnn which is a crisis of legitimacy for your network. We saw it, of course, with the extremely fake news you reported about the don jr. And wikileaks story. That was a huge embarrassment for your network. Just like the huge embarrassment you had when you got the comey testimony wrong. Im trying to get to the question of the president s fitness im getting to the issue of your fitness. The president s tweets reaffirm the plain spoken truth. Selfmade billionaire and tapped into something magical happening in the hearts of this country. The people that you the president has an Approval Rating in the 30s. I dont know what youre talking about. The people that you dont connect with and understand, the people whose manufacturing jobs have left, who have been besieged by highcrime communities and who have been affected by a policy of uncontrolled immigration, those voices, those experiences dont get covered on this network. To prove the point, i was booked to talk about the very issues im just describing and youre not even asking about them because theyre not interesting facts to you. I have plenty of questions on immigration. Youve attempted to filibuster by talking about your flights with the president. I want to ask you a question dont be condescending, jake the president and the white house the reason why the president and the white house the reason why i want to talk about the president s experiences, what ive seen with him traveling to meet dozens of foreign leaders with his his incredible work youre not answering the questions. You have 24 hours a day of antitrump material and youre not going to give three minutes for the American People i get it. There is one viewer that you care about right now and youre being a facto tum in order to thank you, stephen. As republicans and lawmakers call for attorney general Jeff Sessions to resign in a major reversal, democrats are now coming to his defense. What changed . Well ask the top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee next. New banquet mega bowls, piled high with creamy mashed potatoes, corn, and shredded cheese under a savory blanket of gravy. 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On saturday, President Trump refused to say whether he in fact tried to stop sessions but stressed he always conducted himself properly. Everything ive done is 100 proper. Thats what i do is i do things proper. I guess the collusion now is dead because everyone found after a year of study there has been absolutely no collusion. Joining me now is the top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, congress manage adam schiff of california. Congressman, i want to get your take on the president s response to Michael Wolffs new book, fire and fury. The suggestion there are many people around the president who are concerned hes mentally unfit for office, President Trump tweeted in response, quote, actually throughout life my two greatest assets have been mental 125b89 and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton played these cards very hard and as everyone knows went down in flames. I went from very successful businessman to top tv star to president of the United States on my first try, i think that would qualify as not smart but genius, and very genius, in fact. What is your reaction to those tweets . Well, look, i dont think mean is particularly surprised what has been revealed in the wolff books in terms of the questions people working closest with the president have about his capacity to do the job. I dont think there is anyone in congress who does not concur privately with those observations and concerns. Certainly very few are willing to express them publicly in congress, and i think thats to the detriment of our institution. The big question for us, though, is, you know, plainly we have a seriously flawed human being in the oval office. Will those flaws be allowed to permeate the whole of government . And i see honestly, jake, some very disturbing signs that they are. Among the most serious from my point of view are these reports that the Justice Department at the president s urging is now investigating Hillary Clinton again. That would be a violation of all the protections we put in place postwatergate and no one should imagine that if thats the case that the president wont similarly badger the Justice Department to investigate anyone who runs against him in 2020. Well let me ask you, congressman, do you have any evidence that this investigation going on into the Clinton Foundation being conducted by the Justice Department and the fbi, do you have any evidence that its being done for political reasons. How do you not know that its a legitimate investigation . I mean, i thought that the whole idea was were supposed to believe that the fbi and the people at the Justice Department are men and women of integrity. Well, we are, but if this is a decision, and i cant confirm even whether the Justice Department is conducting an investigation, im just going on the published reports, but if they are investigating Hillary Clinton, it doesnt take a genius, let alone a stable genius, to see why. Its not because there is some new evidence that has come to light, its because theyre being badgered by the white house to do it. You simply cannot explain it i think any other way. And that is, thii think, deeply disturbing. Thats not in isolation. If you look at the decision by the Justice Department to release these private Text Messages during an internal department of justice Inspector General investigation, thats inplus dented and th unprecedented. That is a nod to the white house. These cracks were seeing in the Justice Department ought to concern every american. We ought to be thinking in congress, democrats and republicans alike, beyond these three years what damage may be done to the institutions of our democracy. And that ought to be far more important than any party concerns. Right now it certainly doesnt look that way. With all due respect, congressman, arent you contributing to the lack of faith in these institutions . All we know is that the investigation into the Clinton Foundation has started anew. There might be new evidence. There might be a legitimate reason. You were just saying your suspicion that this is being done because President Trump has publicly called for his political opponents to be investigated, and clearly while that casts a cloud over the investigation, the president doing that, that doesnt necessarily mean there is anything illegitimate about the investigation itself. Jake, you really have to suspend disbelief to suggest that this is being done for anything but a political purpose. Look at the reopening of uranium one investigation. Look at the decision to lift the gag rule on this witness. Why is this being done now . Are we really to believe this is being done for completely independent investigative reasons that some at the Justice Department completely on their own decided, hey, this is a good time to reexamine a 7yearold uranium transaction . No. This is a response to the president s tweets, his admonitions, his badgering and im not going to ignore the plain reality of this because it is going on. And as i said, you dont have to be a genius to see this and you dont have to be a cynic to see this. The Justice Department is taking actions as a direct result of this lobbying campaign by the white house. And i think i would be derelict as the republicans are derelict if i wasnt calling this out and sounding the alarm. Well, i dont want to spend the whole time on this, but i will say youre asserting your suspicions as fact, and if you get facts to back up your suspicions, id love to hear them. Lets move on you know, jake, let me say, i havent seen any facts, jake, i havent seen any facts to just the reopening of these investigations. Nothing has been brought to my attention. Youre the ranking democrat on the intelligence committee. Cant you ask the fbi why they reopened it . Arent you able to do that . Im certainly able to do it, but am i able to get answers . And thus far the answer is, no, im not able to get answers. Im not able to ascertain why are they reopening a look at the uranium investigation . Why are they reopening an investigation into the Clinton Foundation . No one has provided information to me that provides a legitimate justification for this and thats why im expressing the concern. All right. A new report this week in the New York Times says President Trump ordered the white House Counsel to pressure the attorney general Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the russia probe and the initial draft of the memo firing comey explicitly linked to the russia investigation. The times is saying mueller is examining this as possible obstruction of justice. At this point from what you know, is there a stronger case for obstruction of justice than there is for collusion between the Trump Campaign or trump team and the russian government . I dont know how to, you know, weigh the relative merits of the evidence in terms of obstruction and in terms of collusion, but i will say this, it certainly is appropriate, and i think even necessary, that we investigate this, and i do think its evidence that bears on the intend of president in urging white House Counsel, to urge Jeff Sessions essentially to ignore the ethics lawyers at the Justice Department. It certainly appears consistent with what the president has said about his firing with james comey, and that is that he had russia on his mind. He wanted loyalty from james comey. He wanted loyalty from Jeff Sessions. And the way the president interprets loyalty is not loyalty to country, not loyalty to justice, but, rather, loyalty to him and having his back when it concerns the russia investigation. So i think this could very well be evidence that goes to the president s intent and, of course, one of the elements of obstruction is having a corrupt intent that accompanies these acts. All right. Congressman adam schiff, always a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you, jake. After an explosive new tellall reveals details from inside the highest levels of the Trump Administration and describe the president as childlike, does the president need to clean house . Political gurus David Axelrod and Marcin Mckinnon will be here to discuss. Oose satellite dish. 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The activated charcoal in charco caps adsorbs gas for fast gas relief without passing the gas. Charco caps put less boom in the room. The union. Im jake tapper. President trump spent much of the week defending himself against charges from an explosive new tellall, calling the author Michael Wolff, quote, a total loser who mate up stories, unquote. The book is fire and fury inside the Trump White House, suggested the people around the president do not believe hes fit to be president and they are questioning his mental stability. Here to discuss how the white house should be and is dealing with the fallout are team people who have firsthand experience in the west wing, David Axelrod, former Senior Adviser to president obama and host of cnns the action files and mark mckinnon, host of the circus on showtime. Gentlemen, thanks so much for joining me. David, let me start with you. President trump took to twitter to tout his mental abilities, tweeting he was, quote, a very stable genius. What was your reaction, david, when you saw that tweet . Well, look, in a normal presidency when books like this arise, what you would do is tell the president do not engage because youll only amp up the coverage of the story. In a normal presidency, you wouldnt sent the president out to attest to his own mental stability and brilliance, but this isnt, as we know, a normal presidency or a normal white house and he does what he wants to do and he only complicates his situation, he only he not only amplifies the coverage of this, but he also amplifies the questions that the book raises. So, you know, i wasnt surprised, i guess, having watched donald trump for the last couple of years, but by normal standards it was a it was a bizarre thing to do. And, mark, i know its not the same thing, theyre not the same men and a lot of the stuff said about president george w. Bush was completely unfair and unfounded, but there was a lot of criticism of president george w. Bush and his intelligence, not his mental stability but his intelligence. Did that affect president bush and how did he deal with it . Well, first thing i would say is that, you know, im not so much surprised about whats inside the book. What im shocked about is the fact that they would let this author inside the white house for a year. I mean, the president referred to him as a total lose . A fraud. Stephen miller just called him a garbage author, and yet they allowed him to Wander Around the white house for a year writing this book. So the first thing i would say is that to reflect on whats going on in the white house is, you know, the notion that somebody would just be Walking Around the white house writing a book and nobody went up to the president and said did you actually authorize this and is this okay . Karl rove or rahm emanuel in the bausch or obama white houses would have had that guy thrown out in five minutes. David, a huge impact of this book is the fallout between the president and his former chief strategist steve bannon, the axelrod of the Trump White House and bannon has not publicly denied the incendiary comments, the quotes in the book, after which the white house released a statement saying, quote, steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he lost his job and his mind. Steve doesnt represent my base. Hes only in to for himself, unquote. Obviously i know the answer to this question, but im going to ask it anyway. Can you think of a worse Communications Strategy for dealing with this than how they have done it . I mean, is there is there any how would you have told them to deal with this book, just dont even talk about it . Well, i mean, i would have let i would have let the press secretary handle it. I would have been very muted about it. When you engage like this, as i said earlier, you just amp it up. Let me just point out one thing about steve millers rather strange appearance on your show today. You cant at the same time argue that a book is pure fiction and denounce steve bannon for his quotes in the book. Okay . Either its one thing or the other. Obviously it isnt pure fiction if they think bannons quotes were accurate. And obviously bannon himself hasnt spoken, which tells you something, the author says he has some tape which may be my bannon hasnt denied the quotes in the book. But, no, i think this has been a disastrous strategy that only raises more questions, but we should point out that even the day before this book appeared there was a series of tweets from the president , bizarre tweets that had everyone scratching their heads. So this book is however accurate some of the reporting is, it builds on a years worth of experience with donald trump and a years worth of reporting by a broad array of news oranges that make you think, yeah, maybe something is here. Both of you have had to deal with books come out during the obama and bush presidencies respectively, one that raised questions about internal strife, et cetera. Mark, former White House Press secretary Scott Mcclennan wrote one. There was the price of loyalty. How did the Bush White House deal with them and what does it do internally to a white house, mark, when people are quoted attacking each other in books like these . Well, its difficult, but the worst thing that you can do is flatter the book with attention, and even worse than that, threaten to u sue the author. I guarantee if you want to raise sales for a book, threaten to sue the author. As Michael Wolff said when he heard that, where do i send the box of chocolates . So as a strategy what you dont want to do is reflect too much attention on something that is trying to get a lot of attention. But the fact is, you know, books written in the white house, either authorized or unauthorized, are generally never helpful, right . And especially in the first year of a presidency. First years of the most successful president s are chaotic. So the last thing i think, you know, a strategist or adviser to the president would recommend, yeah, lets let someone hang around the white house for the first year of the presidency and write about it. David, you faced books like this. After you answer what you want to answer, tell me about inside the white house what a book like this does. Well, ill answer that and then say what i wanted to say. Its not good. Its not good if you have first of all, for the president to know that the people closest to him were saying things, even if they deny it publicly that they said them, in his mind the question will be did they say these things . And so it is a poisonous thing when a book like this is published. Now a lot of the folks who were mentioned, or some of them, are gone now, and you have a new regime in the white house so its a little bit different, but nonetheless, in the mind of a president who tends towards the paranoid, this isnt a good thing. What i wanted to say, how do you handle these things. I remember being at a white house Correspondents Dinner and you were there and mark probably was as well when george w. Bush was delivering the comedic speeches that president s deliver. There was one joke in there that i remember, you know, i know some people dont think im that smart. You know, honestly, i think some of my staff believes that as well because every morning they put this intelligence briefing on my schedule. And so, you know, that is the way you deal with these things. But you have to be a confident person to deliver a joke like that. It was a brilliant joke. It was wellreceived and it said, look, i know what you guys think, but it actually made him look intelligent. And so, you know, but donald trump is incapable of doing that kind of thing and instead he reacts the way he does and he only makes his situation worse. Mark, final thoughts . Well, i think what the white house needs to do as quickly as possible is stop talking about the book, move on Start Talking about the agenda for 2018 and thats what trump was doing at camp david this weekend, which i thought was a good strategy. You know, publicly let people know, let the audience know, let his supporters and america know that hes moving on, hes looking forward to 2018 and trying to dot job of the presidency and looking ahead instead of looking back through the mirror of this book. All right. Mark and david, our two wise men. Thank you so much. Appreciate it, as always. President trump could soon have another republican to worry about in the senate. Will mitt romney run for the seat in utah . Our panels next. W at red lobst. That is, until you taste our new menu. 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Went to television and for ten years was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard. Ran for president one time and won. President trump articulating his cv, defending himself . Not definitely sure what that was, but that was President Trump. Our panel is here with me now. Michael caputo, you worked on the Trump Campaign. How would you have advised the Trump White House to handle this this last week and a book i know you have major issues with. I would have said ignore the book, dismiss it, move on. There were so many great things that happened at the end of the 2017 for this presidency and so many things on the immediate horizon that could be very successful for the president. The book itself is a distraction, its trash, just like Stephen Miller ed said and i think so much of it is being crest sized from all sides. The boofl itself would have died a slow death and now its going to be a bestseller. I think the white house has time to speak about something else. I hope after this camp david press conference that they can move on. One of the issues i agree with michael that the white house has given this incredible amounts of oxygen, but one of the reasons why i dont think it would have been ignored is that the white house cooperated with this book. The author was there and white house personnel and staffers are quoted all over it. You were Communications Director at a white house. You guys had some books you had to deal with. How would you have dealt with it and what do you think about them letting Michael Wolff in through the door . I agree with michael, i agree with you, that what theyve done is given this enormous oxygen this week. Theyve probably made him a bestseller, perhaps. The problems they have and kind of the defense that michael just gave of the white house is, one, they gave him unfetterred access, as you said. He reportedly has hours of on the record interviews on tape of some of these staff saying the same things, and the third one, which i think is going to be the most lasting beyond the bannon trump rivalry is the issue of trumps unfitness to be president. Now this is consistent with reporting, with what some people have expressed concerns about, this is the lengthiest analysis of that with many, many quotes and insights from people who have been close to trump. That is not a debate that he or the white house wants to be having over the next few months. Now Michael Wolff the other day said on the today show that 100 of the people around President Trump, including family and senior staffers, 100 dont think hes up to the job. I find that impossible to believe. Just don jr. And eric alone, who worship their father and think he i mean, its just not a true statement. It seems like the white house could have dealt with this any number of ways, in terms of pointing to things that Michael Wolff has said or written that are just demonstrably false, but the subject of whether or not President Trump, whether or not the people around President Trump that dont know about his fitness, i dont know that the president has done himself any favors in his response this week. No, but, i mean, its not secret that President Trump has bad judgement on any number of things. We see this play out day after day after day. And certainly people who have to counsel him, give him advice have to be banging their heads against the walls. Anyone who worked in communications knows that Michael Wolff was hanging around the white house, that makes your brain melt to think that this was authorized. I think anybody that has worked a second in that. But the thing that hurts trump the most is what bannon said about russia. Listen, bannon does have a grudge, but hes also probably right. He said the trump tower meeting was treasonous and hes worried about money laundering. That validates the russia investigations. That is what leaves a mark and that is why bannon has gone quiet. What do you think the biggest mark, is it about the treasonous thing, the president s fitness . I think from a big picture point of view, one person who turns out not to be a genius is bannon. If youre coming around the corner at the end of last year, youre looking at a bannon that is a major threat to both political parties. He has the mersers, which means money, breitbart, which means media. The ability to attack the republican establishment and access to the presidency. This was the biggest threat to from my point of view to american democracy and he wiped himself out. Its not even the end of the first week. The mercers apparently may back away from him. Breitbart turned on him. The president just hosed him publicly. I dont think anyone is afraid of him. For me, the implosion of steve bannon and the possible removal of steve bannon from the board big picture is going to be more important. Do you think Stephen Miller, who gave an interesting interview, if you can call it that this morning on the show is the right person to be putting out there to beat back the allegations in this book . Look at the attacks that are going on on this president and have been for some while, they are very, very personal. There are people on the left make fun of his hands. We know what they means. Why theyre thinking about that, i dont know. The personal attacks on this president are profound. And i think the president himself feels compelled to defend himself. Theyre so personal. And i think he sent out one of his most trusted aides today to defend him as well. Its so personal and visceral and hateful. I dont think ive seen this kind of thing before. Forget about how trashy this book is and what wolff had to do, all the lies he had to tell to even get into the white house to write this book, 2018 itself is looking good for this presidency. Its going to be difficult for the 2018 midterms, but if we continue to talk about this book and defend the fingerprint so, you know, against these visceral attacks, were probably stuck in this rut. I think whats interesting about the miller interview, he did take special care to call trump a political genius many times, which i think is to push back on allegations of mental unfitness in this book. He said it several times. It should not be overlooked that Stephen Miller publicly broke with bannon. He was viewed among the Republican Base as the insider in the white house who is going to guide immigration policy. Now that Stephen Miller has officially pledged alegionance to trump, broke with bannon who represents that branch, that connection to the base, that needs to be looked at. I think there is a fundamental question here. You have Stephen Miller, whose audience as you pointed out, is an audience of one, donald trump. Maybe there was job security going on there. That was a job interview. He got the job, though. He may still have the job thanks to that interview. There is a question about whether sending someone out to do an interview the weekend after youre accused of being unfit and erratic who comes across as unfit and erratic is the right strategy for any white house. You have a small percentage of people, about 30 supporting you. Do you want to expand that . He needs to expand that. Can i Say Something about the unfitness question . Listen, its not 100 , in any other situation if 350 of the people around the president were concerned he was not fit to do the job, that would be a global emergency. I think we adapt to the absurdity. There is now a movement ano longer psychiatrists to figure out how do we intervene here and look back a year from now and say the warning signs are there this makes me want to holler. Dont forget that lbj used to do white house meetings on the toilet, all right . The idea that this president is somehow unfit for office is spin, its designed to be the new russia investigation for 2018. With the russia investigation going to be behind us soon. Now theyre moving into the 25th amendment. This is craziness. I want to ask you about this because there is this vocal group of House Democrats and people in the Mental Health community, psychiatrists and psychologists saying this, and one of them was even suggesting that the president needs to be analyzed, even if its against his own will yeah. This doesnt seem to be a winning argument, the idea that the president should be, like, hit with a butterfly net ls bad judgment. That doesnt mean hes mentally ill. They are overplaying their hand. As always. Its going to be a political solution to this and if democrats want to be successful, they should focus on a political solution and a medical one. Just to back off, from a constitutional point of view, we do seem to have vulnerabilities here. What is the charge . Or any other president going forward, you know, jimmy carter raised some of these concerns back in the 80s. We dont have a way to make sure that the president is fit. The people who have their finger on the button have to be checked every three months for their mental fitness, but the president doesnt. In other words, the people who are actually in charge of the Nuclear Arsenal have to be evaluated but the commander in chief does not. Seems like a very slippery slope to me. How stable is it for a president to have a sexual relationship with an intern in the oval office . I mean, all of a sudden were looking at all sorts of president ial behavior. The question thats serious here is whether this person should have this hand on the button with our nuclear codes. And issues that were real and substantive that were not always talking about, there are real political questions and substantive questions about the president s fitness. Those are completely valid questions for people to be asking and questions that people could be having at their Kitchen Table or grocery store. I know he means well but he doesnt seem quite right, he doesnt seem quite stable. He seems erratic. Those are questions that will happen. Thanks, one in all, for being here. The president has a pension for nicknames and now hes going right for the jugular after one of his closest advisers has turned on him. Thats next in the state of the cartoonien next. Easy to prepare, and made with tender cuts of meat, nice sweet veggies, and rich, savory gravy. Banquet pot pies. Made for the moments that matter most. Welcome back. It is one of the president s unique talents, if you want to call it that, coming up with biting nicknames for his opponents. Usually just two word monday any customers but they can cut deep. Thats the subject of this weeks state of the cartoonion. Almost like magic, President Trump came up with a new nasty nickname for his former strategist steve bannon. Sloppy steve. This comes amidst a fight that paints the president as disconnected and not up to the job. There is one job that the president is clearly up to. Coining devastating nicknames. Rocket man. Crooked Hillary Clinton. Lying ted. How does President Trump come up with that perfect nickname . Does he workshop them . No. Silly steve . N amount h. Hobo steve . That may anger the hobo community. Sloppy steve. But bannon is capable of coming up with nicknames as well. He referred to Jared Kushner as fredo in the godfather. And although politico misreported this saying bannon called jared frodo from the lord of the rings. One wonders where this epic battle might end up, perhaps like an old west standoff with smartphones instead of guns. President trump now says he would, quote, absolutely talk to north korean dictator kim jongun on the phone but after months of trading insults, will that actually happen . Thats next. Its part of my new years resolution no more mayhem. Making sure your car is pulled in far enough. But not too far. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. Money managers are pretty much the same. All but while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. 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Now, with instant text and email updates, youll always be up to date. You can easily add premium channels, so you dont miss your favorite show. And with just a single word, find all the answers youre looking for because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. Download the xfinity my account app or go online today. This is gps the Global Public square. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world. Im Fareed Zakaria coming live to you from new york. Well take you on a tour of the worlds hot spots starting with the unusual unrest in iran. Will it spill over into a fullblown revolution . Then then, a war of words between trump